Public reaction to Obama’s immigration initiative is nothing like Republicans predicted

Wednesday

Nov 26, 2014 at 5:10 PMNov 26, 2014 at 9:16 PM

In the days before and just after President Obama announced executive action on immigration reform, more than a few Republican lawmakers warned that Americans generally would react with great anger. One senator even expressed concern that civil unrest would ensue.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said the midterm elections had represented a huge outcry against anything less than a hard-line stand on illegal immigration.

Well, here we are a few weeks later, and virtually all of these portents of hell-to-pay have been shown to be just hot air.

Of course, Ted Cruz was wrong in every regard about the message conveyed by voters in the elections of earlier this month. There was nothing huge at all about the results. Voter turnout was the smallest in 72 years. And according to exit polls published by the Wall Street, which is hardly a liberal paper, only 14 percent of voters rated immigration as an especially important issue in making their ballot choices.

Granted, a post-election CNN poll conducted this past weekend showed that a majority of 56 percent didn’t approve of Obama using executive action, rather than wait for Congress to pass a bill on immigration reform, but a sizable 41 percent were OK with what the president did.

Perhaps more importantly, the poll also showed THESE RESULTS:

Only 26% of Americans think Obama’s plan for those [illegal] immigrants goes too far, while 50% called it about right and 22% said it doesn’t go far enough…

Despite the limited backing for Obama’s [executive] action, the survey shows that Republicans might have a hard time gaining traction on the issue.

Just 16% of Americans are angry about Obama’s immigration move — though another 27% said they are displeased. Nearly one-quarter of Americans say it doesn’t matter, and 41% say they’re pleased or enthusiastic about it.

Support for a GOP lawsuit against Obama over his executive order comes from just 38% of Americans, while 60% say Republicans shouldn’t challenge the move in court.

Instead, 76% said the GOP should spend more time passing immigration reform legislation — something Obama repeatledly prodded his Republican critics, especially in the House, to do — while just 21% said the party should focus on overturning Obama’s policies.

In the days before and just after President Obama announced executive action on immigration reform, more than a few Republican lawmakers warned that Americans generally would react with great anger. One senator even expressed concern that civil unrest would ensue.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said the midterm elections had represented a huge outcry against anything less than a hard-line stand on illegal immigration.

Well, here we are a few weeks later, and virtually all of these portents of hell-to-pay have been shown to be just hot air.

Of course, Ted Cruz was wrong in every regard about the message conveyed by voters in the elections of earlier this month. There was nothing huge at all about the results. Voter turnout was the smallest in 72 years. And according to exit polls published by the Wall Street, which is hardly a liberal paper, only 14 percent of voters rated immigration as an especially important issue in making their ballot choices.

Granted, a post-election CNN poll conducted this past weekend showed that a majority of 56 percent didn’t approve of Obama using executive action, rather than wait for Congress to pass a bill on immigration reform, but a sizable 41 percent were OK with what the president did.

Perhaps more importantly, the poll also showed THESE RESULTS:

Only 26% of Americans think Obama’s plan for those [illegal] immigrants goes too far, while 50% called it about right and 22% said it doesn’t go far enough…

Despite the limited backing for Obama’s [executive] action, the survey shows that Republicans might have a hard time gaining traction on the issue.

Just 16% of Americans are angry about Obama’s immigration move — though another 27% said they are displeased. Nearly one-quarter of Americans say it doesn’t matter, and 41% say they’re pleased or enthusiastic about it.

Support for a GOP lawsuit against Obama over his executive order comes from just 38% of Americans, while 60% say Republicans shouldn’t challenge the move in court.

Instead, 76% said the GOP should spend more time passing immigration reform legislation — something Obama repeatledly prodded his Republican critics, especially in the House, to do — while just 21% said the party should focus on overturning Obama’s policies.

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